Tuesday, September 1, 2015

ST PETERSBURG (Part 6)

PETERHOF PALACE AND GARDENS
Peterhof was the favourite residence of Peter I after whom it was named. Peterhof was officially opened  in 1723 as the Summer Palace and constitutes a grandiose 18th to 19th Century architectural and park ensemble. Our tour did not take us inside the palace but we had an extensive tour of the substantial gardens and surrounds in an area over 1000 hectares. This area is dotted with about thirty buildings and pavilions and decorated with more than 100 sculptures.

Peterhoff Palace

Nazi desecration of WWII
The Grand Ballroom at Peterhoff  Palace




IN SUMMARY 
This has been an unforgettable two days visiting St Petersburg, getting a sense of its history, a broad view of this remarkable city, and an insight into the obscene wealth of its aristocratic rule over three centuries. I think I said in an earlier post in response to a fellow passenger who noted that it was easy to understand what provoked the  Russian Revolution. The long dynasty beginning with Peter the Great (1682-1725) was to end in tragedy with the death of Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1917 following some centuries of autocratic rule where the wealth of the nobility was bought off the backs of a miserable peasant class. Sooner or later there was going to be revolution to deny this divine right of the rich to rule the poor. It has been very interesting to understand the damage that was done to St Petersburg and its iconic palaces and gardens by Nazi invasion during the Second World War. That the Russian people have been able to restore them to much of their former glory is commendable and they will undoubtedly be repaid for many years to come by tourists fascinated by this remarkable period of history.

Emperor Peter I  (1682-1725)
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